Santana Tour Stop in Chula Vista, California

September 03, 2024

Santana Tour Stop in Chula Vista, California

Santana at North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre

August 30, 2024

Opening Band: Counting Crows

Santana “Oneness Tour 2024”

After their fantastic performance at Woodstock in 1969 everyone knew who Santana was. But I had to wait to see them live. The first time that I saw the band Santana was in November of 1971 at the Sports Arena in San Diego. A friend and I got to the Tower Records across the street well before the concert hoping to get autographs from Carlos Santana or any band member (that kind of thing did happen back in the 70’s) but settled on buying their latest album.

Once we were in the San Diego Sports Arena we noticed that we had the “cheap seats” way in the back but by the time Santana started playing we had wormed our way up near the front. The energy up front close to the band was off the charts but when Carlos Santana brought out a young guitar player on stage to join the band (Neal Schon of Journey fame) the crowd went ballistic. I’ll never forget how their dueling guitars riffs kept raising the energy until I thought the roof was going to blow off.

I was lucky enough to watch Santana play over the years but it wasn’t until 53 years later on this night when I as a Concert Photographer got my big chance to take photos of Carlos Santana and the band. Now both Carlos and I have aged quite a bit over those years but he was still playing great music and I was now in a position to capture his art with my camera.

As I waited with the other photographers to walk in front of the stage and take photos of Carlos and the rest of his band I heard that his back pain had been forcing him to play while sitting down and that this is his last concert of 2024 due to upcoming surgery on his back. I’m just a few years younger than Carlos and I felt compassion for him having to play through the pain for all of his fans. The thought occurred to me that Carlos and I have been on circular paths that started in 1971 and now our paths have crisscrossed again and I was determined to get some good photos of his last concert in 2024.

The band Santana took the stage first and launched into the first song and the crowd went wild but when Carlos came out and started ripping a familiar tune on his trusty guitar the crowd erupted in one long sonic wave of appreciation for all that he has done over the years. I took as many photos as I could during his first 3 songs and many of them show him sitting down while playing and I hope you can appreciate how much courage it took for him to play through his pain for all of us.

As I walked out of the Pit area I glanced back and gave him a little wave of thanks and appreciation. He didn’t see me for he was already launching into the next song but somehow I felt connected to him and thankful for the mysterious dynamic forces that kept us connected over all of these years. I hope you enjoy looking at the photos as much as I did taking them and I hope that you will keep Carlos Santana and his family in your prayers as he prepares for his upcoming surgery.

All of our paths end up back where we started…

Review by Stephen Anderson

Current Lineup

Cindy Blackman Santana - Drums

Andy Vargas - Vocals

Benny Rietveld - Bass

David K Mathews - Keyboards

Karl Perazzo - Percussion

Paoli Mejias - Percussion

Ray Greene - Vocals

Tommy Anthony - Guitars and Vocals

All images are registered with the United States Copyright Office. Unauthorized use, copy, display or distribution of any photographs taken by Stephen Anderson is strictly prohibited. You do not have permission to use or pass or download this photo(s) on in any form without the written consent of Stephen Anderson If you have any questions, please send an email to photogalsd@gmail.com.

Copyrighted Photos by Stephen Anderson Photography

Cindy Blackman Santana

Paoli Mejias

Karl Perazzo

Ray Greene

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https://www.countingcrows.com/

The Bands performance centered around their lead vocalist Adam Duritz and their 3rd song by Counting Crows was "Mr. Jones" (one of their biggest hits) got the crowd on its feet!